Golf Channel Lost Viewers in 2008

by Ryan Ballengee on Jan 8, 2009 10:41 AM EST

I was taking a look at Sports by Brooks (for the articles, I swear) via Deadspin and saw a piece from the Sports Business Daily about how Versus - owned by Comast - grew its audience by 23.6% in 2008. Meanwhile, only ESPN Original gained viewed among the family of networks from the Worldwide Leader.

The piece also included a graphic about the ratings changes for all major sports networks. Golf Channel didn't fare so well last year.

A 4.4% drop isn't all that shocking considering that Tiger Woods only played half of the season and in just six events. We saw much worse ratings drops on the network broadcasts of golf events, particularly those in which Tiger traditionally plays.

At least it wasn't as bad as NFL Network. Or ESPN Classic... I love those American Gladiators re-runs!

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I agree

if the numbers are totals over the entire season – then Tiger’s absense would explain most of it.

on the up side – MICHELLE WIE is on the LPGA Tour – ESPN may go out of business during LPGA broadcasts !! (ok – maybe not) :-)

"this ball will fit in that fairway"

by courtgolf on Jan 8, 2009 10:45 AM EST reply actions

Yeah

I think TGC’s numbers are most due to Tiger – which says a lot about his influence.

by Ryan Ballengee on Jan 8, 2009 11:28 AM EST reply actions

Versus

I’m not sure how this all works, but on my local Comcast cable lineup, we (until recently), had ~~The~~ Golf Channel, Versus, and an HD channel that showed up in the lineup as VSGLF, where a lot of the Tour events would appear. Now, it seems to have turned into ~~The~~ Golf Channel HD. But, for a while, it had golf stuff mixed with Versus programming.

Is it possible that the numbers are misleading because of a situation like that where the viewership was mixed? Aren’t both channels owned by Comcast? I know that when given the alternative, I always choose the HD programming and I watched that VSGLF channel a lot over the past year.

Maybe that explains the huge surge in Versus and the decline in ~~The~~ Golf Channel? I watched a ton of PGA Tour coverage replays in the evenings after work on that combined channel.

by Double Eagle on Jan 8, 2009 12:28 PM EST reply actions

Good question

I know they went to 2 HD feeds sometime in December. But, yes, both are Comcast owned.

by Ryan Ballengee on Jan 8, 2009 12:44 PM EST up reply actions

time-warner

I’ve got Time-Warner cable (whether I like it or not). Within the last week they turned on Golf Channel in HD — FINALLY!!! We never had Versus, or any of its content as far as I know.

Truth has a well-known liberal bias.

by dianemarie on Jan 8, 2009 12:48 PM EST up reply actions

Nitro, Blaze and Zap Cannot Be Happy About This

Fewer royalty checks for American Gladiator Alums, I guess. Maybe the dip is due to the cancellation of Cheap Seats. That show was hilarious. ESPN would be better off with more Sklaar action in their lineup.

Doug Albers
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by 14STIX on Jan 8, 2009 12:38 PM EST reply actions